Has Congress lost the plot on inflation?

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“Government Plan To Tackle Prices Is Just Hot Air” screamed the front page of Friday’s Mail Today, as India’s political media lined up to belittle what was billed as a list of anti-inflationary remedies but was robustly rejected as “already failed measures and oft-repeated homilies.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meetings this week with senior cabinet ministers to tackle year-high food inflation dragged on long into the night, keeping editors on tenterhooks and assuring Congress of front page headlines.

Lauded for his economic nous as Finance Minister and again during his first tenure as Prime Minister, the man who was applauded for creating GDP growth rates above 9 percent is now being chastised for failing to control the inflationary pressures that such rapid growth fuels.

Proposed food security legislation, strongly backed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, which would have eased India’s grocery bills, appears to be off the table for at least another year or longer.